Gordon Clark: Trump win offers tips about upcoming B.C. election

President-elect Donald Trump, left, stands with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus during an election night rally in New York. Trump on Sunday named Priebus as his White House chief of staff.John Locher / AP

Now that the initial shock of Donald Trump’s stunning election victory has worn off, there are lessons in it for British Columbians of all political stripes preparing for May’s provincial election, particularly for members of the NDP.

Trump’s win — unanticipated by most pollsters and members of the media — is being analyzed and explained in different ways, usually related to the ideological filter of the person doing the analysis.

Many feminists argue that sexism was behind what to them was Hillary Clinton’s outrageous loss.

People of colour say racism was primarily behind Trump’s win, with CNN political commentator and Democrat Van Jones describing the election result as “a white-lash against a black president.”

Those on the left of the Democratic Party (and those even more to the left outside of that party) blamed Clinton’s loss on her support of crony capitalism and the party’s failure to embrace Bernie Sanders and his socialist message.

Clinton blamed the FBI for announcing in the final weeks of the campaign that she was still under investigation for improper use of a private email server.

The number of explanations is nearly as long as the number of people commenting on the subject. CNN writer Gregory Kreig offered 24 reasons to explain Trump’s win.

My progressive friends here and in the U.S. — clearly hurt and even fearful that Trump is president-elect, and what they believe that says about U.S. society — are fixated on their view that racism, sexism and homophobia are behind Clinton’s loss.

While those issues are clearly part of the explanation — Trump appealed to and embraced some people with undeniably horrible opinions — progressives, so often now members of society’s comfortable elites, do themselves no favours by failing to understand why Trump won: that a large portion of U.S. citizens no longer feel that the system gives them a fair chance to succeed.

If racism were to blame, how do we explain that the proportion of white voters who backed Trump fell to 58 per cent from the nearly 60 per cent who backed Republican candidate Mitt Romney in 2012, according to CNN exit polling? White support for Clinton fell to 37 per cent from about 39 per cent for fellow Democrat Barack Obama in 2012. Why did the proportion of black voters who cast ballots for Clinton fall to 88 per cent from the estimated 92 per cent who backed Obama in 2012? More to the point, why did the percentage of blacks who backed Trump rise to eight per cent from the six per cent or so who supported Romney in 2012?

If it were about racism, why did Republican support from white people without diplomas (the working class) fall to 49 per cent with Trump from the 56 per cent who backed Romney in 2012, while support for Clinton by the same group rose to 45 per cent from the 42 per cent who voted for Obama in 2012? None of that suggest racism was a key factor.

Sexism also can’t be blamed. While the percentage of men who voted for Clinton fell to 41 per cent from the 45 per cent who backed Obama in 2012, the percentage who voted for Trump over Romney only rose to 53 per cent from 52 per cent. And fewer women voters backed Clinton over Obama in 2012 — 54 per cent compared to 55 per cent.

The big change was among working-class voters of all colours, whose support for Trump climbed to 52 per cent from the 47 per cent of that group who backed Obama in 2012. Crossing in the opposite direction, fatally for Clinton’s hopes, was the large drop in support for her among workers, to 44 per cent from the 52 per cent who backed Obama in 2012.

The Democrats — who picked up 93 per cent of the vote in Washington, D.C., which should tell you something — were viewed as the party of insiders and elitists who didn’t have much of a clue or concern for working people. That’s ironic, given the party’s claims and history.

The NDP get accused of the same thing in Canada — of being the party of pampered, effete university professors, urban professionals, activists and unionized government workers without enough concern for practical, working people in the private sector far more concerned about keeping good jobs and expanding the economy than fighting endless politically correct battles. It’s why then-NDP leader Adrian Dix lost the last provincial election he was expected to win when he reversed his support for a pipeline, and why the B.C. NDP could lose again if the party doesn’t stop opposing virtually every major job-creating project in this province.

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